North Broad ST. Station in Hillside, NJ

My father grew up in Hillside, NJ and he was recently telling me that there use to be an old Lehigh Valley station off of North Broad Street in Hillside.....Does anyone know when passenger trains stopped using the site and when the station and or platforms were demolished?? I was looking online and couldn't find anything....

Thanks in advance,
Steve P.

Not sure when it was closed but it was before 1976. It was where the Limo parking area is now. I worked at Kaiser Alum (Hillside 1976-1988) and it was gone then.

Didn't Lionel have offices and maybe manufacturing in Hillside at one time ?

Lionel was originally headquartered, along with manufacturing, in Hillside at one time. I believe that has all changed.

Lionel has gone bankrupt twice and hasn't been in NJ for quite some time. I believe they are headquarted in Michigan.

I believe that the Lionel Hillside NJ manufacturing facility was located where the current complex of building sits just to the north of the westbound lanes of Rt. 78, just before Rt. 78 crosses the Garden State Parkway.

...was manufactured in Irvington.

The LV got out of the passenger business in late '60. But that was long haul stuff. The only "commuter" was a doodle bug that I believe came in from Flemington and ended service quite a bit before then.

What was it the Doublemint twins used to say? You're both right?

This website says: Lionel trains were manufactured in a factory at 605 21st street in Irvington NJ, AND in another factory and office at 28 Sager Place in Hillside NJ. (For the NJ geography challenged, these towns are adjacent)


http://www.ihorse.com/factory.htm

...akthough off thread topic, it is why two of the famous Lionel Lines supposed PRR P54(?) coaches were HILLSIDE and IRVINGTON! Now back to the Lehigh Valley...

henry6 wrote:...was manufactured in Irvington.

The LV got out of the passenger business in late '60. But that was long haul stuff. The only "commuter" was a doodle bug that I believe came in from Flemington and ended service quite a bit before then.

Ok, then I am assuming trains stopped making station stops there probably by the late 50's or early 1960's....? My father tells me that the train depot/shack was still there by the mid 70's.....

Steve

What was the last LV passsenger train over the line in NJ ?

Maple Leaf ?

I recall seeing the station from Route 22. In its last years it looked like it might have been used as a yard office. There usually was a LV switcher parked outside the building.

OT. Was there a spur or siding that crossed 22 right before the Hillside U-Turn overpass near the Ford dealer (which is before the overpass for North Broad St)? I've noticed the pavement wearing on both sides of 22 in a way that seems to indicate a grade crossing there?

I seem to remember an LV station at Meeker Avenue in Newark. It was not an active stop when I saw it. I do remember seeing it post Aldene Plan (1967)when CNJ trains went by on the way to Newark Penn Station. I only saw LV passenger trains twice. The Newark News had a column called High Iron. When service, long distance from Toronto and Buffalo I think, was being ended the High Iron column told when the one daylight train came through and I rode my bike from home in Kenilworth to Roselle Park to see the train. Another time I saw an LV train from the NJ Turnpike from a bus being pulled on the last leg of its journey by a PRR GG1 on the way to NY Penn Station. I think the engine change from diesel to electric was made just before the LV train entered the PRR.
If I remember correctly LV commuter service (I never saw it, read about it) ran to the Hudson River adjacent to the CNJ station. Since those trains did not go through PRR Newark Penn Station the stop in Newark was needed at that time.

ftmprob wrote:I seem to remember an LV station at Meeker Avenue in Newark. It was not an active stop when I saw it. I do remember seeing it post Aldene Plan (1967)when CNJ trains went by on the way to Newark Penn Station. I only saw LV passenger trains twice. The Newark News had a column called High Iron. When service, long distance from Toronto and Buffalo I think, was being ended the High Iron column told when the one daylight train came through and I rode my bike from home in Kenilworth to Roselle Park to see the train. Another time I saw an LV train from the NJ Turnpike from a bus being pulled on the last leg of its journey by a PRR GG1 on the way to NY Penn Station. I think the engine change from diesel to electric was made just before the LV train entered the PRR.
If I remember correctly LV commuter service (I never saw it, read about it) ran to the Hudson River adjacent to the CNJ station. Since those trains did not go through PRR Newark Penn Station the stop in Newark was needed at that time.

Yes. Meeker Avenue was a scheduled LV passenger stop.

Yes. The Newark News column was written by the distinguished author and scholar Walter A. Appel for several years.

Yes. The switch to Pennsy GG-1 was made just west of NK Tower, in connection with the Meeker Avenue stop. Public Service routed at least two bus lines by the station

Sort of. At various times, LV passenger service went through to CNJ, and other times to Pennsy NY. After WWII, I believe only one train went into NY and two others went on to Jersey City via the Greenville bridge (which LV owned, IIRC)

I'll look through my Official Guides tonight and see what info they contain.